Some of the nearly 200 people who attended a rally Friday to support higher education hold signs at the bandstand area next to the Edwardsville Public Library, including SIUE Public Health professor Nicole Klein, left. Several students and some SIUE staff and alumni spoke of the importance for a budget deal in Springfield to keep higher education benefits funded. less

Some of the nearly 200 people who attended a rally Friday to support higher education hold signs at the bandstand area next to the Edwardsville Public Library, including SIUE Public Health professor Nicole ... more

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Dillon Santoni, students trustee at SIUE, gave a passionate speech on the need for higher education funding to be maintained.

Dillon Santoni, students trustee at SIUE, gave a passionate speech on the need for higher education funding to be maintained.

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No politicians from the state level, where decisions are made about education funding, were in attendance, but Madison County Board Chairman Alan Dunstan attended and listened to the presentations. SIUE has a large impact on the economy of Edwardsville and the county. less

No politicians from the state level, where decisions are made about education funding, were in attendance, but Madison County Board Chairman Alan Dunstan attended and listened to the presentations. SIUE has a ... more

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‘We need SIUE’

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EDWARDSVILLE — As a stopgap funding bill to shore up university coffers flew through the state legislature Friday, students, faculty and community members demanded a “real” budget at a rally in Edwardsville.

Stephen Hansen, interim chancellor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, said the temporary bill to fund public universities in Illinois is a “Band-Aid.”

“I was pleased to hear the senate passed this bill. It was somewhat of a relief, but it’s not enough,” Hansen said.

The Edwardsville-based university will receive $57.5 million, an amount Illinois State Comptroller Leslie Munger said her office would begin distributing “immediately.”

But the emergency money, which also includes funding for Monetary Award Program (MAP) grants, will only fund the university through the summer, Hansen said. Dillon Santoni, student trustee on the SIU board, said state lawmakers are using universities and their students as pawns for political gain.

“Today we have students, parents, business owners, developers, citizens wondering why the support of our future is being held captive in a political game,” said Santoni, who is himself a MAP grant recipient.

“There was a stopgap put forward today, but that is not the end,” Santoni continued. “We simply look at something today that says, ‘Here’s something that you’ve asked for,’ but we want what we deserve,” Santoni said.

Edwardsville Mayor Hal Patton spoke to the university’s value to the community.

“It’s a beautiful day,” Patton said under a sunny blue sky, “for a budget.”

Patton said he has passed three budgets as mayor, and added that governing is “challenging” and requires compromise.

“Eventually, you have to provide services,” Patton said.

A few of the services SIUE offers in the city include camps, daycare, gardens, clinics, business incubators, research and community education efforts, said Cindy Cobetto, president of the University Staff Senate.

“I cannot fathom what the state of Illinois is thinking about by closing parks, by not paying institutions, by not covering healthcare for their employees,” Patton said.

Health care providers and insurance agencies have also gone unpaid during the 10-month-old budget impasse, driving some to charge their patients up front for costly care. Keith Edwards, an English professor at SIUE, said he and his family have had to struggle with healthcare bills since the budget crisis began.

“When I get a bill, it’s not just inconvenient to me, it’s catastrophic. I’m real close in my budget. So, when I get an extra bill for insurance, for example, that I paid for, fulfilled my end of the social contract and paid my premiums for over an extended period of time, it crushes me,” Edwards said.

SJ Morrison, an SIUE alumni and Alumni Association board member, said the university is not a “bargaining chip,” and that the community relies on SIUE for its economic support, education and cultural impact.

“That university tucked away in the woods east of town is one of our region’s greatest economic generators,” Morrison said. “It’s no great exaggeration to say that we need SIUE.”

The bill (SB 2059) provided a total $1.7 billion in funding for the state’s public higher education institutions.